Obscured by Clouds. The rough and ready blog of a cloud benighted biologist and amateur astronomer. Astroblog will cover my interests in astronomy, biology and Life, the Universe and Everything.

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

The Sky This Week - Thursday April 3 to Thursday April 10

The First Quarter Moon is Monday April 7. Jupiter is the brightest object
in the evening sky, visible in the early evening. The Moon visits Jupiter on the 6th and 7th. Mars is prominent in the late
evening sky and is at opposition on the 9th. Saturn rises higher in the evening sky. Venus is prominent
in the morning sky. Mercury
is dimming in the morning sky below Venus. The asteroids Vesta and Ceres are visible in binoculars.

The First Quarter Moon is Monday April 7. The Moon is at Apogee, furthest from the Earth, on the 8th.

Evening
sky on Sunday April 6 looking north-west as seen from Adelaide at
21:00 pm ACST in South Australia. Jupiter is above the north-western
horizon. The inset
shows Jupiter's Moons at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere
at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is in the constellation Gemini and is the brightest object in
the evening sky. Jupiter was at opposition on the 6th of January, when
it was brightest and closest to Earth, but will remain bright and easily
observable in telescopes for in the early evening for the rest of this month.

Jupiter
is highest around 18:00 pm local saving time. It is high
enough to begin
observing telescopically when twilight ends. Jupiter sets around 10:30, so there is only a few hours for good telescopic observation
now.

In the early evening it is above the north-western horizon between the
bright
stars Castor and Pollux, the twins of Gemini, and the bright red star
Betelgeuse. Jupiter is quite easy to
see as the brightest object in the entire sky, in the late evening the
sight of bright Jupiter sinking to the west, and bright Mars (still not
as bright as Jupiter though) rising in the east is quite beautiful.

Jupiter's Moons are readily visible in binoculars.

Mars rises
around 18:00 pm local time, and is now easily seen in the late evening, rising as Jupiter is setting.
Mars is at opposition, when it is biggest and brightest, on the 9th, and is
readily distinguishable as the bright red/orange object above the evening horizon. Mars is is in the constellation of Virgo near the bright star Spica (see below). Mars is well worthwhile looking at in a telescope now, although you will need adecent one to see any detail.

Saturn
is rising higher in the evening sky, but is still best visible high
above the northern horizon before dawn. Saturn is in Libra near the head
of the constellation of the Scorpion. Saturn forms a triangle with the
two brightest stars of Libra, its apex pointing towards the head of the
Scorpion. Saturn is high enough in the early
morning for decent telescopic observation (see below).

Morning sky on Sunday April 6 looking east as seen from Adelaide
at 5:30 am ACST in South Australia. Venus is well above the
horizon. Mercury is still reasonably high above the horizon. The
inset shows the telescopic view of Venus at this time. Similar views will be seen
elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click
to embiggen).

Venus
is in the morning sky, above the eastern horizon. The brightest object
in the morning sky, it is now easy
to see and although it is past maximum
brightness, it will dominate the morning sky for some months to come.
Venus was at its furthest distance from
the Sun on the 23rd of March, and now will begin to slowly sink towards the horizon. Venus is now a clear half-Moon shape.

Mercury continues to sink towards the horizon. Although dimming it is still readily visible below
Venus.

Evening
sky on Wednesday April 9 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 21:00
pm
ACST in South Australia. Mars is close to the bright star
Spica. Saturn forms a triangle with the two brightest stars of Libra.
The insets show the telescopic views of Saturn and Mars at this time (although you will need a good telescope to see Mars in this detail).

The asteroids Vesta and Ceres are just below Mars, and easily visible in
binoculars. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent
local time (click to embiggen).

Two bright asteroids are now visible in binoculars in the evening sky. 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta. Vesta is now bright enough to be just visible to the unaided eye in dark sky locations.While Vesta is easily seen in binoculars, you will need to watch the same patch of sky in binoculars for a couple of nights to identify it by its movement. Ceres never gets brighter than magnitude 7, but is easily in the range of 10x50 binoculars. See here for a printable black and white maps suitable for seeing seeing Vesta and Ceres.

There are lots
of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially
with Jupiter, Mars and Venus so prominent in the sky, and Saturn coming into view. If you don't have a telescope, now
is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.